DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: RE-INCORPORATING THE BAATHISTS INTO IRAQS GOVERNMENT

Iraqi Shia clerics oppose new legislation
By Steve Negus, Iraq correspondent

Senior Iraqi Shia clerics including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani oppose new legislation that would ease the ban on members of the former ruling Baath party holding official posts, Shia leaders said on Monday.

The new legislation is seen by US officials as crucial to efforts at effecting national reconciliation and undermining the insurgency.

The authenticity of statements from Iraq’s reclusive top clerics are often difficult to verify, and a clerical source could not be independently reached.

However, the Associated Press quoted Ahmad Chalabi, head of the government’s de-Baathification commission, as saying that Iraq’s ”grand ayatollahs said it is dangerous for the criminals to return to leading posts in the state.”

Mr Chalabi had just returned from talks about the law with the venerated Mr Sistani. One of the Grand Ayatollah’s aides was also quoted by Reuters as saying that the top cleric’s office rejected the law because it was ”not an Iraqi demand.”

The government of Shia prime minister Nouri al-Maliki released the draft of the law last month, following months of pressure from US officials who said that progress must be made on national reconciliation if the Americans were to remain engaged in Iraq.

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